


The World

by purifying_puppet



Category: Marvel (Comics), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Adjusting to time period, Bad times but things get better eventually, Gen, Survivor Guilt, This is a work in progress so bear with me, ptsd mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 16:11:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17206634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purifying_puppet/pseuds/purifying_puppet
Summary: Saving the world isn't easy. Especially when the world you try to save isn't your own.





	1. Weltschmerz

As blue light overcame his senses, feeling himself ripped through time, the time traveler had a split second to dwell on how poor his planning was. Heading to a relatively far off place in time with extremely limited resources and idea of what the hell to do was definitely going to prove challenging. What if he hadn't gone back far enough? What if he went back too far and died before civilization started? What if he clipped through the damn floor and lost his legs? That was a thing that could happen, right? The time-slider was faulty at best and a liability at worst; it could land him in the ocean if he went forward, in a PERSON, god forbid,

Or directly on his head.

With a grunt, he rolled onto his back, waiting for the stars to leave his vision, and the ringing to leave his ears, soon replaced by inky darkness and an ambient trill of... something, punctuated by small chirps. Strange.

Forcing himself to his feet, he gripped something solid to keep himself upright. The darkness of the area felt almost suffocating, coughing at the impact of cold air in his lungs as the residual heat of the travel was sucked from him by his surroundings, pulling his cloak around him tighter. This was fine. Nothing was happening, he could handle this.

For a few minutes, it was nothing but listening to his own heartbeat, to distressed calls of what he assumed to be some sort of bird, and something small rustling above him, moving away. There were things here, but they were afraid. The flash must have startled them off.

His vision slowly but surely adjusted, turning to inspect the object he'd been leaning against. Very large. Very solid. Wooden. Most definitely alive. He looked up, but any distinctions of the shape of top of it was lost to the canopy it formed with similar forms. Trees. Imagine that. In the middle of where a city would someday stand, and where the ocean would make an effort to drown it.

As much as he would like to consider the trees further, he had to get moving. He was going to have to find shelter if this kind of cold kept up. Or at least keep moving until dawn.

It quickly became obvious to him how impossible it was to travel quietly in this kind of place. He had a tendency to stomp as it was, but all the foliage and twigs, squeaks of panic as little things were disturbed and fled his path just added to the calamity. He didn't mean to disturb the little creatures, but there wasn't much he could do instead. He had to move if he wanted to keep warm. He'd apologize to them by making it so that this place wasn't underwater in a hundred years.

His pace was slowed to the point of being agonizing, quickly growing frustrated that his body couldn't keep up with his own demands. He couldn't afford to slow down, however much the vines gripped at his ankles, or blood drained from the wounds he'd acquired from the fight he'd warped away from. Leaving everyone behind... If the timelines were running parallel, they'd most certainly be dead by now. Wondering why he hadn't been able to save them. The last resistance to Apocalypse, fallen.

There was a lack of certainty as to why things were getting foggier. Maybe it was just the weather, or maybe it was all in his head. Either way, he couldn't see shit, and it only made travel harder, smacking into things becoming more frequent. His eyes began to water as he gritted his teeth— they were gone. They never even were. Everyone he'd ever known had effectively been erased.

It was selfish of him to be upset about it. He came back here to make sure they didn't have to live that kind of life, not wallow in self-pity.

Or mud, for that matter, which was really pulling on him. It was a good thing his boots were strapped on so tight, or he'd have quickly lost them. He yanked himself out telepathically, testing the ground before proceeding with walking.

It was a good thing he was still alive; without him, the world would turn to the future he'd come from.

He just had to...  
To...

 

He didn't have a plan.

He'd gone in without a plan.

Maybe someone else had had a plan, and would have been better suited for this. He could have given the time slider to them, and they could have left that awful place and lived on. But he'd done it. And now it was getting harder and harder to think about anything that wasn't how he was failing them, and how these woods were trying to swallow him whole.

He bit down on his tongue hard enough to taste blood, trying to snap himself out of it. He'd made it out of worse spots, and he couldn't give up now. He couldn't fail. He wouldn't allow himself to.

There wasn't going to be any progress made in his current state, though. He felt around for something to steady him, gripping his way down a sapling until he reached the ground, sitting with his back to the stump. If he was going to rest, he was going to do it on his own terms. Just briefly. Just until his breath was caught and his head stopped spinning.

Taking the moment of rest to do something constructive, he tried to sort his thoughts. He'd live. He'd stop the world from falling apart. He'd die trying, but he refused to die without at least making enough of an impact to prevent the catastrophic events coming.

Forcing his eyes back open, he tipped his head back, regarding the woods again with a deep breath. Everything smelled strange and sweet, dampness hanging in the air only amplifying it. Something in a tree in the distance cooed, and something small a fair distance away was digging.

He'd get back up in a minute. He thought he saw something a distance away, though it could have just been tree branches with the way they were outlined. They probably were.

It was definitely alive, and moving towards him. He should get up. Now. Right now. Maybe it would turn away?

He couldn't see it anymore. Or anything, for that matter.

" **Shit, are you alright?** "

The time traveler startled back awake with a shout, scrambling to try to reach his particle shield, but his hand was too numb to find it. Someone had knelt down in front of him, but he couldn't make out their face.

" **Easy, I'm not gonna hurt you. What the hell are you doing out here**?"

That voice was weirdly familiar. He shouldn't recognize someone from this time's voice, should he?

" **Stay awake, alright? I'm going to—** "

 

____


	2. Gemütlichkeit

  
" **You awake yet?** "  
  
With a groan, the time traveler forced his eyes open, his functional one refusing to adjust. Everything was warm and smudged, like honey across a camera lens as he tried to understand where he was. He rubbed his eye, blinking hard.   
  
" **I'll take that as a yes,** " The stranger stated  gruffly, " **Who are you anyways, and what were you doing out there?** "   
  
With a swallow, he struggled to sit up, eyeing the stranger in suspicion, soon followed by shock.  Of all the people to run into...   
  
" **You... can talk, right?** " The other's voice softened slightly.    
  
"Yeah... Sorry, just-" He coughed sharply, clearing his throat.  "The name's Cable."  
  
" **Cable, huh?  What were you doing out here?** "  
  
This couldn't be the same person. Wolverine had claimed he'd been alive since before it all fell apart, but he thought he was joking, or maybe just exaggerating, or-   
  
"You're Wolverine..." Cable wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement that had escaped him, but either way, his voice betrayed him when it came to his uneasiness.    
  
" **... Yeah. We met?** "  
  
This wasn't possible.  This guy had to be fucking with him.  He pried into his mind carefully, trying to figure out if he shared common memories with the one he'd known, or this was someone else.  Within a few moments of making an entrance, he felt the door slam on his fingers, heart racing at how violently he'd been shoved out of the other's mind.   
  
" **What the hell do you think you're doing?!** " Logan demanded, Cable making an effort not to cringe.  
  
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. Just trying to check if you were going to kill me..." his voice was quiet, eyes cast down, trying to diffuse the situation.    
  
" **You're a shitty telepath then**."   
  
At that, Nathan raised his eyebrows. As much as he had an ego almost the size of his martyr complex, he needed to keep a level head about this.  
  
It lead him to a bit of a worrisome thought; who'd been digging around in his head to make him know the feeling? Know where exactly he was tapping into? And not just know it, be able to reject it?   
  
"I'm sorry-"  
  
" **-If I wanted to kill you, I could've just done it out in the forest,** " The woodsman stated, searching the telepath's expression, only to regret his words.  The kid looked so fucking lost. Either he was a really good actor, or he might actually be who he claimed to be. " **Why do you know who I am?** " He finally continued.  
  
"I knew you.  Well, technically not _you_ , but..." Words were failing him.  "I..." he trailed.  
  
That wasn't good enough. It sounded too familiar.  Like the people who'd seen him back, before... The last thing he needed was people from the Weapon X program finding him again.  Not after so long. " **You've got about 30 seconds to explain yourself.  I've got a lot of bad people after me, bub. And if you're with one of them, I'm not in the mood!** "     

Logan had jammed a finger into Cable's face, and it was difficult for the time traveler to fight the urge to panic and throw him away.  He had to explain himself, but there was no way to do it without seeming insane, his stress was bubbling over, feeling the irritating fizz of tears starting to burn in his eyes.   
  
"We were friends, alright?! But that version of you doesn't exist yet! I'm from the future, and everything is SHIT there, and I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing!" Nathan hiccuped a sob, his throat feeling tight, hands flying to his face as he tried to block his crumbling expression.   
  
Logan grimaced at the sudden display, guilt flooding him at the other's explanation.  It seemed not even being out in the middle of the woods could separate him from whatever wacky X-Men shit came his way.  He sighed, trying to chase the feeling. It was only natural to be suspicious because of who he was.  But the strange technology, the flash that had spooked the whole forest, and the fact the other smelled like burnt fuel and blood made it all add up.  
  
Just turned out he had snapped at the wrong person, though he supposed it was better to snap at everyone, should they actually be after him.  He still had to clean up afterwards though. Whether it ended with blood, or in this case, tears. Or maybe some broken glass; things were starting to float, and he chalked it up to the other's outburst. He leaned forward, wrapping an arm over the traveller's shoulders.  
  
" **Calm down, kid. I believe you.** "    
  
Nathan wasn't sure why, but the statement hit him like a punch to the gut, practically radiating a mix of relief and sadness, wrapping his arms around the other and trembling as he forced a few breaths.  He felt safe for an instant, and prayed his 'friend' wasn't just saying that.   
  
He finally relaxed after a few moments, realizing how badly he'd been freaking out only when he had to carefully, deliberately place down every item he'd inadvertently lifted.    
  
"I'm so sorry... I... don't know what just got into me..."   
  
" **It's fine.  I yelled at you pretty loud, and you're probably in shock, so that's on me...  Sorry.** "   
  
Shock.  That was probably a good chunk of what was wrong with him.  He'd been at war all his life, and someone yelling at him had been more than enough to reduce him to tears.  That had to be it. He forced a deep breath, wiping his face.  
  
"I know why you're so paranoid, so I should've explained..." Nathan chuckled sadly.  This had such an odd feel to it. This person didn't know him, even if he knew him well.  This was no time to bring trauma into the mix.  Why had he even said that? That was stupid of him. The very briefly relived knot of tension in his chest quickly replaces itself.  
  
Logan sighed.  Why did he have to be flypaper for troubled strangers? Then again, he knew he himself wasn't a stranger to the other, so he'd do his best to at least be friendly. Whatever that meant to him. " **Relax. You froze, I overreacted. It's not your fault.** "  
  
Nathan shuffled a bit in discomfort, trying to settle down, taking in his surroundings.  Textbook log cabin. He'd never been in one, but he'd heard stories. He rubbed his hand over the slightly rough surface of the couch, trying to ground himself.    
  
" **Do you know where you are?** " Logan offered, seeing the other was clearly having difficulty keeping focus.    
  
"I... Thought I'd end up in a city.  On a coast. There's supposed to be one here. A crumbling one, but one nonetheless."   
  
" **There's not a city for a good hundred miles, and no coast either.** "  
  
That wasn't good.  He must've traveled spatially. He checked the device around his wrist, frowning. "No, these are definitely the same coordinates. What happened to the ocean?"  
  
" **Probably hasn't gotten up here yet.  Don't worry, it won't stay back for long, the way things are going.** "  
  
"Oh, has there been flooding?"  
  
" **No, the world's just melting, and we're all gonna drown soon.** "   
  
"You think the world's melting right now? Just wait till '54, there's lift on policies that removes all kinds of restrictions.  That's when the heat death of the planet really kicked off..." Cable chuckled, though it quickly became apparent it wasn't funny to him.  This was just a story to his friend, not a harsh, shared reality. It hadn't happened yet.   
  
Therefore, there was still time to stop it.  
  
"I... really should get moving."   
  
" **Where to?** "   
  
Now, that was a question.  No plan. No plan at all. Cable felt his face grow hot at the lack ideas, unsure why not having an answer made him feel so embarrassed. "I.. really don't know what to do from here."   
He was starting to feel dizzy, grateful for the couch beneath him providing support, even if it felt like it was swaying a bit.   
  


" **You don't look so hot.  Get some sleep, we can think up a plan once you wake up** ." The woodsman had already taken him by the shoulders, slowly lowering him onto his back and tugging a blanket over him.   
  


'We'. Logan couldn't believe he'd just roped himself into whatever harebrained scheme a time traveler may present to save the world.  He really needed to stop taking care of every random person who showed up out of nowhere, for his own self preservation if nothing else. 

  
  
  


_______

**Author's Note:**

> I'll probably update this weekly. Hit me up with comments if you feel like it :0)


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